A photo posted by natashahaddad1 (@natashahaddad1) on Jun 28, 2015 at 10:53am PDT

The huge 2015 Glastonbury Festival went down over the weekend, and it was full of surprises. Bon Iver's Justin Vernon showed up twice, once during Kanye West's set and another time during The Staves. A guest came out during Patti Smith's set too, but not a musical one: it was the Dalai Lama. Though the Foo Fighters had to drop off due to Dave Grohl's broken leg, Florence and the Machine took over their headlining set and covered "Times Like These" as a tribute to them. (Much like The Killers did for Kings of Leon at Firefly the previous weekend, after lightning cancelled the latter's set.) The Libertines showed up to play a surprise set. And Lionel Richie played a hits-filled set to a huge crowd, stretching from Commodores faves like "Brick House" to "Dancing on the Ceiling" and "All Night Long."

A pink flare lit up the sky above thousands of fans as acoustic guitars marked the introduction of 'FourFiveSeconds', and the lack of both Paul McCartney and Rihanna for that song suggested that there would be no guests during the set, but Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) was revealed to be providing backing vocals when smoke cleared during 'Lost In America' and 'Can't Hold My Liquor'. Vernon, dressed in black t-shirt and baseball cap with headphones on, was introduced by West as "one of the baddest white boys on the planet."

'Ye also led the crowd in a singalong of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and then called himself the "greatest living rock star" on the planet during his set, which The Who mocked during theirs. He also had some pretty hilarious subtitles of his lyrics on screen during BBC's broadcast of the festival:

As for Justin Vernon's appearance with UK folk pop band The Staves, he came out to sing "Make It Holy" off their 2014 album, If I Was, which he recorded and produced at his April Base Studios in Eau Claire. Watch a video of that, and a video of Kanye's full set (via Nah Right) below.

Part of Patti Smith's reason for bringing out the Dalai Lama was his 80th birthday. NME writes:

"We are grateful to him for all his love of humanity and making people aware of the importance of saving the planet," she said, before reading a poem she had written for him. Glastonbury's Emily Eavis then bought The Dalai Lama onto the stage to huge cheers from the crowd. "I think it would be nice if Glastonbury wished The Dalai Lama a happy birthday," said Smith, before leading the audience in a rousing rendition of 'Happy Birthday'.

The Dalai Lama then blew out a single candle on a cake made of fruit, before cutting it. "Thank you, thank you," he said. "Dear brothers and sisters, I really appreciate so many people's expression of warm feeling." He then went on to joke about the age of Smith and her band. "These singers and musicians have white hair, but they look very youthful! That gives me encouragement, I should be more like you - more active!"

Video of Patti and the Dalai Lama, plus videos of the Libertimes, Florence covering the Foos, setlists and more, below...

Florence + the Machine's new album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, is out in about a month and you can check out the videos for singles "What Kind of Man" and "Ship To Wreck" from it below. She'll be in NYC around the same time, playing the 2015 Governors Ball, but you can see her before that in a much smaller setting. Specifically she's playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on Tuesday (May 5) with Empress Of which is presented by Governors Ball. (MHOW is full of surprises lately.) Tickets for that show go on sale Tuesday morning at 10 AM but if you pre-order her album you can get presale tickets now.

Empress Of just wrapped up her five-night stand at Elvis Guesthouse. Anybody check one of those out? All tour dates are listed, along with those music videos and a recently-released video of her full Coachella Weekend 1 performance, below...

The Austin City Limits festival returns to Zilker Park from October 2-4 and October 9-11, and though the lineup wasn't supposed to be announced until this Tuesday, Austin 360 points out that the festival's website leaked it early. The posting was quickly taken down, but not before 365 Things Austin could screenshot it. It was accurate and the ACL 2015 includes Foo Fighters, Drake, The Strokes, The Weeknd, Disclosure, Deadmau5, Bassnectar, Alt-J, Alabama Shakes, Of Monsters and Men, Tame Impala, Sturgill Simpson, The Decemberists, Brand New, TV on the Radio, A$AP Rocky, Billy Idol, Chance the Rapper, Father John Misty, Brandon Flowers, Run the Jewels, Sylvan Esso, Kurt Vile, Waxahatchee, Florence + the Machine, Modest Mouse and more.

Check out the full lineup below. Tickets go on sale Tuesday (5/5) at 10 AM CDT.

Father John Misty put out a heart-shaped single for Record Store Day 2015 (4/18), which featured an acoustic version of I Love You Honeybear's title track, retitled "I Loved You, Honeybee" on the a-side, and unreleased song "Never Been a Woman," on the flip. You can stream both sides of that below.

The same day, he performed at the second weekend of Coachella and included a cover of Leonard Cohen's "I'm Your Man" which you can watch here. He also made a surprise appearance with Florence & the Machine (who played sitting down after breaking her foot at Weekend 1) during her set on Sunday (4/19) for a duet of "Love Hurts." You can watch that below.

Father John Misty will be back in NYC for a show at Central Park Summerstage's Rumsey Field on August 5 with Angel Olsen, and Summer Moon. Tickets are still available. He's just announced more tour dates, saying "Touring can be really lonely. You feel isolated, disoriented. Even sort of socially catatonic. That's why it's so important that I see your beautiful little stupid faces. You are my lifeline to the world of mankind." All dates are listed below...

Empress Of, aka NYC art-pop musician Lorely Rodriguez, has released a new single in anticipation of her upcoming debut album, which will be out later this year via Terrible/XL Records. "Water Water" features Lorely balancing airy vocals over a pulsating electronic instrumental. Stream the new track in full below.

Empress Of just played a DJ set at the BV-presented Porches show earlier this month, and has a run of live sets lined up. Lorely plays a show at Joshua Tree in California with Jamie xx and Jon Hopkins tomorrow night (4/16) and then comes to NYC for a five-night stand residency at Elvis Guesthouse from April 28 to May 2 with each night supported by to-be-announced special guests. Tickets for all five nights are on sale now. Empress Of will also support Florence & The Machine for a pair of non-NYC dates in June (hopefully Florence's broken foot will have recovered).

Remember punk? The supposed sound of youth and clarity? I don't know about that. Every kind of music has the age it is and the age it wants to be. At Coachella, electronic dance music wants to be young, electro-soul wants to be late-20s and early 30s, and punk, regardless of the age of the people playing it, wants to be middle-aged or older, with mixed feelings. It's the sound of probity, disappointment, disapproval.

The visual clichés of Coachella are sunglasses and dyed blond hair and gym-rats with neon tank tops. The punk shows I've seen so far -- there are a few of them here and there, with small crowds, like secret meetings -- are where the sundresses and tank tops are not. The obstructing monolith disappears; suddenly a different festival reveals itself. Whatever the music might give you, the sight is a relieving contrast. [NY Times]

Coachella 2015 day 3 had the most amount of punk bands of the three days, a genre that was surprisingly well-represented this year, despite the bands' much smaller crowds compared to the increased interest in EDM acts. Day 3 had Brand New, Conor Oberst's recently-reformed Desaparecidos, OFF!, Touche Amore and Joyce Manor, as well as somewhat-related bands like Conor's old Saddle Creek pal Jenny Lewis and Brand New/Desaparecidos' sideshow mateBuilt to Spill. According to Ian Cohen at Pitchfork, those punk bands "tore through tight and triumphant sets--the difference between bands that had to win over kids instead of critics over the years instead of vice versa was abundantly clear."

It was also the day that Drake headlined (and, uh, made out with Madonna on stage), Florence + the Machine played (and sadly, Florence broke her foot after her set), and we got sets from Ryan Adams, St. Vincent, Jamie xx, Mac DeMarco, Panda Bear, Charles Bradley, Philip Selway, Angel Olsen, John Talabot, Sturgill Simpson, The Cribs and more.

The 2015 Glastonbury Festival, which sold out in 25 minutes back in October, has announced it's initial lineup. In addition to Lionel Richie, which they confirmed a while back, this year will feature Patti Smith, Kanye West, Florence and the Machine, Pharell Williams, Motorhead, Alabama Shakes, The Fall, Alt-J, Suede, Fat White Family, The Chemical Brothers, GOAT, Caribou, fka twigs, George Clinton, Father John Misty, Kate Tempest, Run the Jewels, Future Islands and more.

The annual UK festival takes place June 24-28 on Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, England. All announced Glastonbury 2015 performers are listed below...

The 2015 Osheaga Festival happens July 31 - August 02 in Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau. This year's lineup includes St. Vincent, Kendrick Lamar, Future Islands, Hot Chip, Nas, Father John Misty, Alt-J, The War on Drugs, Weezer and lots more. Festival passes are on sale now and the full Osheaga lineup is listed below...

Lollapalooza returns to Chicago's Grant Park from July 31 - August 2, and this year's lineup includes Paul McCartney, Metallica, A$AP Rocky, TV on the Radio, The War on Drugs, Father John Misty, Brand New, Flying Lotus, Hot Chip, The Tallest Man on Earth, Death From Above 1979, Django Django and more. Tickets are on sale now, and single day passes go on sale at 10 AM CT.

We know these kinds of listicles get published all the time, and that everyone will always find ways to argue them, but this one is kind of interesting. Rolling Stone published their '50 Greatest Live Acts Right Now' list, where they asked a panel of writers, industry figures, and artists, "who rules the road in 2013?" It's got much of the stuff you'd think Rolling Stone would have on this kind of list (like insisting The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen are still better live than basically anyone else in 2013), but there's still some surprises, like the inclusion of Tame Impala amongst mainly rock/pop stars.

As you may be aware, Baz Lurhmann's glitzy, big-budget adaptatation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel, The Great Gatzby, is out May 10 and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Toby Maguire, and Carey Mulligan. That same week will see the release of its soundtrack which was curated by Jay-Z and features Jack White, The Bryan Ferry Orchestra, Gotye, Lana Del Rey, Beyonce with Andre 3000, and Jay-Z himself.

It's also got a new track by The xx, titled "Together," which was specifically written for the film. You can stream it, and check out the soundtrack art, full tracklist and a trailer for the film, below....

Big day for award nominations. The Oscars announced theirs this morning and the Brit Awards just wrapped up their ceremony for 2013 nominations, with Emeli Sandé grabbing four and Mumford & Sons and Alt-J each getting three. All three of those artists were nominated for British Album of the Year, a list that also included Paloma Faith and Plan B. If you don't know, The Brits are basically the UK's equivalent of the Grammys, though nominees are all British apart from a few "International" awards.

Jessie Ware, Muse, and Adele each got two nominations, and single-digit noms went to Bat for Lashes, The xx, Richard Hawley and The Vaccines.

"The DeLuna Stage was set up on the beach, facing away from the Pensacola pier that stretches into the Gulf of Mexico. On the opposite side of the beach looking back was actually the Heritage Stage, a stage filled with the sounds of New Orleans jazz music. The quarters weren't as sprawling as Hangout [Festival in Alabama], but the Windcreek Stage location, in the adjacent parking lot, made for a much easier human traffic flow between the two primary stages. That concrete often kept the festival from feeling like it was intended, but its proximity also kept fans from missing anything from the weekend's largest acts.

Then, the setup allowed for unrestricted access to the ocean. So, you give and you take.

NBC Sports sponsored a "sports bar," lined with no fewer than 10 HD flat screens. The welcome addition allowed a region which loves college football to lounge near the beach and catch their favorite team on Saturday. Alabama's pay-per-view contest against Florida Atlantic was not carried, but most other national broadcasts were, including Auburn's near-miss against LSU." [Birmingham News]

After busting up the gang in 2000, snarky mid-'90s piano trio Ben Folds Five reunited this year with a new album on the way and a tour, which they're on now. The tour stops at Central Park Summerstage tonight (9/14), their first NYC show in 12 years. Tickets for tonight's show are still available. BFF will also return to the NYC area for a show at Port Chester's Capitol Theatre on October 9 with Kate Miller Heidke (tickets) and a couple days later they will play opening night of New York Comic Con on October 11. Tckets for that are still available too.

Ben Folds Five, best known for their ballad "Brick" back when people still held up lighters at shows (1997), have a new album, The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind, which is their first since 1999 and is out next week (9/18). The record was funded via Pledgemusic and is a little mellower than the bouncy, fuzzy pop of their Clinton-era singles like "Underground" and "The Battle of Who Could Care Less" but his sense of humor seems intact. You can listen to tracks at SPIN, TeamCoco and Rolling Stone.

Ben Folds Five are also playing Florida's Deluna Fest which happens September 21 - 23 in Pensacola Beach, FL and also features Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Bob Mould doing Copper Blue, Diplo, Florence & the Machine, Band of Horses, and many more. Tickets for Deluna Fest are still available and full line-up is below.

A list of all Ben Folds Five dates, a few classic clips and that Deluna Fest lineup are below...

Canadian R&B singer/Drake affiliate The Weeknd went on his first headlining tour earlier this year surrounding his appearance at Coachella which brought him to NYC for sold out shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg and Bowery Ballroom. Now he's begun revealing more dates for what looks like iwill end up being a full tour surrounding ACL Festival. Two of those dates happen in NYC on October 26 at Terminal 5 and October 27 at Paradise Theater in the Bronx. Tickets for both shows go on sale Friday (8/17) at noon.

Meanwhile, you can also catch The Weeknd in the NYC area when his tour supporting Florence & the Machine with The Maccabees hits Camden, NJ on September 18 at Susquehanna Bank Center. Florence also hits Jones Beach on September 15 without The Weeknd, but with The Maccabees. Tickets for those shows are still available.

The Weeknd's mixtape trilogy is still available for free download on his website. A stream of "High For This" from his House of Balloons tape and a list of all currently known dates are below.

This was the opening of an e-mail Saturday morning from my friend, the Montreal based singer-songwriter Leif Vollebekk. Day 1 of Montreal's Osheaga Music and Arts Festival (8/3) was in the books and instead of joining the crush of people all trying to get into the Metro, we opted to walk with a much smaller group of people from Parc Jean-Drapeau, the festival's home, over the closed-off Jacques Cartier Bridge back to the Mile End.

"You know," Leif's e-mail continued, "we could've all just waited for the subway, but then we might have been accused of being reasonable."

What came before the trek from the island to the mainland was a hot, dusty, sweaty blur of music and dancing and a sold-out crowd determined to pull every ounce of enjoyment from their day out.

The highlight for me on Day 1 was always going to be Sigur Ros, who I'd seen just a days before in Philadelphia. Sure, Justice may have been the official headliner on the day, but the Icelandic band, even restricted to their one-hour time slot, felt like the real headliner and reduced the electronic duo and their glorified DJ booth to the equivalent of an afterparty.

Earlier in the day, The Walkmen featured Skyler Skjelset of Fleet Foxes on bass and guitar and Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men packed the field at the Scene Verte stage on the other end of the park for their mid-day set.

The Dum Dum Girls set was delayed with sound issues and once they got going the tech guys spent most of their set running back and forth across the stage adjusting and fixing gear. It was the beginning of a trouble-filled weekend at the Scene des Arbres stage where delays were constant and, on Day 3, Zola Jesus' set was controversially cut short as thunderstorms rolled through. (Festival officials shut her set down just as the worst of the storm had passed.) She took to Facebook to voice her frustration (though what happened in Montreal was nothing compared to what went down at Lollapalooza in Chicago the same weekend).

Gary Clark, Jr. impressed over at the Scene Verte as his loud, fuzzy guitar riffs conjured dancing girls and good vibes.

Along with a beautiful set from Florence and the Machine and a raucous end-of-the-night set from Montreal's Les Breastfeeders, it was a great start to the festival.

Stay tuned for more on Day 2 and 3. More Osheaga Day 1 photos are below.

We just posted about Austra who's coming back to North America (including 9/19 at Music Hall of Williamsburg) after a tour of Europe. She's also one of many artists playing the 2012 Osheaga Festival in Montreal which happens August 3 - 5. Tickets are still available for the three-day event.